Your Fat Shape and Heart Disease

Posted by James
on Jul 13th, 2009 and filed under News.
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Photo By: *L*u*z*a*

I just read an interesting article about how a person carries their fat can be a factor in determining the risk of high cholesterol or heart disease. An fat person is generally described as one of two shapes, apple or pear.

If you are an apple, you will carry more fat in your upper-body, especially around the waist. Pear people predominately carry fat around hips and thighs. Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin indicates the apple shaped folks are at higher risk of health problems more than pear shape people:

“The pear shape is the protective shape,” McLaughlin explained. “With apple shapes, where people tend to have large waists with skinny legs and hips, the risk of high cholesterol and heart disease is higher. What we’ve found is that the fat tissue that lines the abdomen, the adipose fat, is high in the inflammatory markers that lead to heart and cholesterol problems.”

While not a hard rule, from my observations I have noticed men tend to be apples while women are pears. From what I understand, men under 50 are more likely to suffer from heart disease and high-cholesterol than women. Perhaps this is due to the apple shape of men when compared to pear women.

Of course, starting a lifestyle of healthy eating, especially every three hours, can help not only reduce your ugly apple or pear appearance, but limit your risk of high-cholesterol and heart disease.